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A heavyweight bout between former champ Junior Dos Santos and former title challenger Francis Ngannou is the latest addition to July’s UFC 239 lineup.
MMA Junkie verified that Dos Santos (21-5 MMA, 15-4 UFC) and Ngannou (13-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) have agreed to the matchup with a person close to the situation following an initial report from ESPN.com. The person requested anonymity because the UFC has yet to officially announce the bout.
UFC 239 takes place July 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.
Dos Santos, No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie MMA heavyweight rankings, is coming off a TKO victory over Derrick Lewis at UFC on ESPN+ 4 earlier this month. “Cigano” pushed for a title shot after the fight, but said he wouldn’t fight again until after the expected birth of his daughter in May.
Now Dos Santos gets paired against No. 6-ranked Ngannou, who he was originally scheduled to fight at UFC 215 in September 2017 before a U.S Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) issue pulled him from the fight. The Brazilian was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing in the matter and is currently riding a three-fight winning streak.
After falling short in a title bout to then-champ Stipe Miocic at UFC 220 in January 2018 then losing a lackluster bout to Lewis, Ngannou has put together back-to-back knockouts of fellow contenders Curtis Blaydes and Cain Velasquez.
The latest UFC 239 card now includes:
- Jon Jones vs. Thiago “Marreta” Santos
- Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm
- Ben Askren vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Junior Dos Santos vs. Francis Ngannou
For more on UFC 239, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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